I have largely stopped buying collector’s editions in the last decade, and so I probably wouldn’t buy Dragon Age: The Veilguard‘S Pseudo-special edition, called “Rook’s Chest”, to start with. If I don’t see anything I could actually use in the big box of collectibles that comes with a game for those willing to shell out a premium, I try to just stick with a standard edition. But I probably would have felt more inclined to buy that big box of Dragon Age Treats if they came with a crucial piece of the puzzle: the actual video game.
The Veil GuardianThe non-special edition of includes some really nice little things. There’s a deck of cards with beautiful art, a game-accurate glowing lyrium dagger that hopefully isn’t sharp enough to actually hurt anyone, and a nice cloth map of the fictional world of Thedas. But the listing on BioWare’s store page states in big, bold letters that it doesn’t include Dragon Age: The Veilguard
Not every special edition of late has skipped the main event, but many companies have become comfortable with calling something a collector’s edition or selling something that looks like one without putting a game in the box. BioWare alone has culled physical game copies from special editions in the decade since we last had a special edition. Dragon Age Game. Mass Effect: AndromedaThe Collector’s Edition contained a fully remote-controlled car and a steelbook, but there was no video game or download code in the box. Mass Effect: Legendary EditionLegendary Cache included a wearable N7 helmet, a steelbook, and other things to fill your walls and shelves with, but no way to actually play the three remasters. It feels like if you don’t call it a “collector’s edition,” you could leave the game out, but it’s still being positioned as such by the companies selling it, even if it doesn’t have the label.
Even if the game is included in a special ed ition via a digital code, this contradicts the physical purchase of a special edition. God of War: Ragnarök
While there are probably arguments about the manufacturing costs and the growing pressure for easily erasable digital libraries before anything else, collector’s editions were always intended to be an extension of a game, not something completely separate from it. It feels like companies are trying to sidestep those expectations by not calling these boxes of toys and replicas “collector’s editions,” but we know what these things actually are. I’d be more motivated to buy your box of cool stuff if I knew the game that inspired each collectible would also be on the way when I got the shipping notification. If nothing else, I guess that saves me from spending too much money on a game I might not even like. Now we’ll see if The Veil Guardian makes me want to buy another box of crap that I don’t have room for.
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